The Magic Shop: A BTS Short Story Compilation

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Kakao.

Your phone dings. Groaning, you stick your hand out of the cocoon formed by your blanket and reach for the offending piece of gadget to see what woke you up. Eyes still weighed down by slumber, you squint at the bright screen and fumble with the buttons until you get to the messaging app.

A contact request?

You bring the phone closer to read the small font of the accompanying message.

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Rabbit sent you a contact request.

Hi! You left your notebook at the book cafe.

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Rabbit?

You click on the profile photo to enlarge it and find a picture of an illustrated pink rabbit with one brow thicker than the other. One of its ears is furled, too, causing an odd asymmetry that's nonetheless cute. You don't recognize it from anywhere, but that isn't surprising. You spend most of your free time reading novels and webtoons or watching anime. At work, you stare at codes all day often working overtime to meet urgent deadlines. Anything beyond those is beyond your scope of knowledge.

Anyway, whoever this Rabbit is, they're claiming they have your notebook. With your whole body creaking in protest, you unwrap yourself from the blanket and head towards the living room. Because you forget your slippers, the pads of your feet touch the cold floor so you titter on your tiptoes. 

Cheapskate, your best friend, Min Yoongi, often complains. 

To which, you reply you're just saving for a rainy day. Even though you're not necessarily short on money, you always try to save as much as you can. Your family is not particularly well-off so growing up, you learned early on the value of saving. 

When you reach the couch, you grab the bag you threw there earlier and scourge its depths for the little notebook you always carry around to write down your ideas. After pouring out all the contents, you finally accept that it's gone. Racing back to your bed, you once again wrap yourself with the thick duvet and accept the contact request.

Maybe 'Rabbit' is the cafe owner? You don't know Kim Seokjin that well, except that he's the same age as you and makes great coffee. Also, he has the kind of face most people worldwide will consider handsome --- a classic, manly bone structure, tall nose, and lush lips. Usually, attractive people make you nervous, because they always know how to use their advantage as weapons wielded against the less fortunate (e.g. people like you.) Kim Seokjin, however, is so easy-going and openly confident, it's difficult not to like him. Two months ago, when you started going to the tiny book cafe downstairs your apartment building, you even nurtured a little crush on him. But after a while, you find out he's married to a pastry chef. His wife is absolutely gorgeous, too, which makes sense. According to the law of this vicious universe, a godly man deserves a goddess for a wife. Not a potato cosplaying as a woman.

Potatoes can dream, though.

Sighing, you once again examine the photo. This defies any rational law whatsoever, but you see the rabbit slowly transform into a human face, complete with shiny eyes, fluffy hair, and delicate rosebud lips. Is this the stranger you sniffed? The possibility makes you shudder and kick your blanket. How can he possibly get your number?